


The Avengers: Six Months Later

by seekeronthepath



Series: Tower Tales [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Gen, Interviews, Post-Avengers (2012)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-10 11:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3288485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekeronthepath/pseuds/seekeronthepath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An interview with the team, published for the six month anniversary of the Battle of New York.</p><p>This is a short bonus fic for my (much longer) story It's Not Easy. It can be read on its own, but it works as part of a series. </p><p>[final version has now been posted]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six months after the Battle of New York, Gwen Davidson, of the New York Times, interviewed the team of superheroes that has come to be known as "the Avengers".
> 
> I really can't post this without acknowledging the readers who made it possible by contributing questions: LadyErin, E_Meckm, and especially William H. Stoddard. Thanks guys - you really made me think.

** The Avengers: Six Months Later **

Gwen Davidson - 03/18/2013

 

Six months ago, a madman opened an intergalactic portal above Manhattan, and catapulted us all into a world of comic books and action movies. Somehow, a team of six people defeated him and his army of semi-reptilian aliens, and since then they have gone on to fight evil geniuses, mad inventors, and international terrorist organisations in battles all over America, and indeed, the world. In the media storm that followed the “Battle of New York”, they became known as the Avengers, and three months later, Stark Tower was renamed Avengers Tower in the popular imagination, when they all moved in.

 

When I arrived at Avengers Tower to interview the team, I was met by Captain Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America) in the lobby. He was wearing slacks, blue plaid, and a friendly smile, and he chatted easily as he shepherded me through the security procedures. “It’s a nuisance,” he commented, “but I’m sure you understand why it’s necessary.”

The elevator took us directly to what he called “the common floor”: it seemed to be one huge living space, with a kitchen off to one side. A wall of windows opposite the kitchen looked out over greater Manhattan. The dining table could have seated twelve, and the lounge area at least fifteen. At the time, it was occupied by Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Dr Bruce Banner. (Hawkeye and Black Widow both requested that their identities be kept private; as such they will be referred to only by their aliases in this article.)

“Welcome to the Tower,” said Hawkeye, grinning at me.

Captain Rogers sighed. “Tony’s running late Again?"

Dr Banner shrugged. There was little outward sign that, if provoked, he could grow four times in size to become what some call "the Incredible Hulk". In fact, he looked remarkably calm, except for some nervous fidgeting with the cuff of one sleeve. “Last I heard, he was on his way. Would you like me to get him?"

At that moment, the elevator doors opened and Mr Stark sauntered out. “You must be the Times lady,” he said, directing his smirk my way. “Ms Dallison?”

“Davidson,” Black Widow corrected coolly. She was incredibly self-possessed and poised, and although she was wearing fairly casual clothing, she looked better than most women would in an evening gown.

“Where’s Thor?” Mr Stark asked.

“He’s out on the balcony,” Hawkeye answered, getting up gracefully from the couch. “I got him.”

 

Eventually, they assembled in front of the TV. Though at first glance they showed little sign of being the lethally effective superheroes we rely on, with further observation, it was obvious. Captain Rogers was dressed casually, but his bearing was miltiary-straight, and he sat on the edge of his chair, ready to move quickly. Black Widow had been leafing through a book when I arrived, but she clearly knew exactly where everyone was at any time. Hawkeye had draped himself across an armchair, which should have made him less intimidating, but really just called attention to his famously well-muscled bare arms. All of them were watching Dr Banner warily. Thor sat sprawled on the couch in a t-shirt and jeans, but his famous hammer Mjolnir hung on his belt and his hand rested on the handle. Mr Stark looked as he always does at media appearances, completely aware that everyone knows _exactly_ who he is. "Shall we get started?" he asked.

 

** Captain Rogers **

**NYT:** Captain Rogers, of all the Avengers, you're the only one with a military background—or at least a modern military background; I understand that Thor is a prince and a warrior. How do you view your teammates as a military force? What kind of asset does each of them provide in combat?

**CPT ROGERS:** You know, back when we were dealing with Loki, Tony told me “we're not soldiers”, and he was right. One thing I've learnt, working with the team, is that we aren't at all like a military unit, not even like the Commandos - and heck, we weren't conventional at all. And one thing I've come to realise is that's a good thing. We're all incredibly different, in our skills and knowledge, and what we bring to the table, so we're able to deal with situations that a military unit just can't handle.

As you said, I've got a military background, and I've got a lot of experience dealing with, well, taking down organisations like Hydra. I've got experience leading a team, and I'm decent at tactics, and it helps, even with a group like ours, to have someone taking point. And, well, the shield's a pretty unusual weapon, but I know what I'm doing with it.

Tony...well, the suit's pretty impressive. But if the suit was all he's good for, it'd probably be War Machine sitting here right now. A lot of the time, Stark's the ideas man. Like I said, I'm good at tactics, but Stark comes up with the sort of crazy, impossible ideas that take out an entire army of aliens at once. And when we're dealing with the mad inventor type, he's usually the guy to figure out the quick way to shut it down.

Hawkeye is our ranged fighter, obviously. With the trick arrows, he can do a heck of a lot more than an ordinary sniper, and even with a gun, he's more effective than an ordinary sniper. He's also got a lot of experience with hand-to-hand, and infiltration missions. I'm not exactly unobtrusive, and the Hulk sure isn't.

The Hulk is our go-to guy when we're dealing with a really big enemy, a really resilient one, or an awful lot of them. Not subtle, but he can just keep smashing and taking hits. Bruce, on the other hand...well, you asked about combat capabilities, but it really wouldn't be fair to overlook the work Bruce and Tony do in between fights. Often, it's those two who interpret the science of the situation, and Bruce has been really committed to looking after us when things go wrong.

What Black Widow brings to the table, I think, is precision. She's by far the best at close fighting of all of us, and she's an expert at getting into places unnoticed and getting information out.

And Thor...the thing about Thor is, he comes from a completely different perspective to the rest of us - and we're already pretty diverse. He's a great fighter: he can take a lot of hits; he knows what he's doing with that hammer; he can offer additional air support in a pinch; and the lightning is (in emergencies) pretty aces. And that alone would make him an excellent addition to the team. But it's like I said with Tony - he'll come up with things the rest of us wouldn't think of. In Thor's case, it's because he's lived a long time and seen a lot of strange things, rather than scientific genius, but it's really turned the tables for us a couple of times.

**NYT:** Even though you were born in 1918, because of your big "time out," all of your teammates are older than you are biologically and in personal experience. How does that affect your relationships with them?

**CPT ROGERS:** It's, uh, a little weird. Particularly because I lead the team. But I think it gets overshadowed by the “time out”, and just the differences in our experiences anyway. Tony and Bruce are ten, fifteen years older than me, but even if I'd been older when I went down, I still wouldn't have that shared experience, shared knowledge. Thor's pretty close to my age, in proportion to his lifespan, but then, that's lasted for hundreds - thousands? - of years. And, well, you grew up fast in the Depression. And in the war.

**NYT:** You come to 21st century America with a unique perspective: you skipped over decades of history. What things about our current politics strike you as improvements on your own time? What things strike you as having gotten worse? Do you have any sense of the United States having taken the wrong steps at particular points along the way?

**CPT ROGERS:** I get asked questions like this a lot, by a lot of people, and I still find them difficult to answer.

The core of my philosophy, I think, is that I don't like bullies. And there have been some changes, while I was frozen, that have been really good for that. The civil rights movement? Feminism? The, uh, gay rights movement? I am incredibly glad for the progress that those have made. And I'm disappointed that they haven't made more progress, too.

It's like that with a lot of things, really. I grew up dirt poor in the Depression, and I was sick constantly. It's better now, for people in that situation, but if people can be bankrupted by medical treatment that in other countries is almost free? Then I think that we aren't doing right by our fellow Americans.

I'm, uh, still catching up on the details of the political movements while I was frozen, so I couldn't exactly point out specific instances, but...I get the sense that a lot of the last seventy years has been two steps forward, one step back. Maybe that's normal, though. One thing that did surprise me...whatever happened to the separation of church and state? All the time, I see people arguing for laws because of what the Bible says is right! I'm a Christian man, and I go to church every week, but faith and politics...when they get mixed up, it seems to me that things just get messy.

 

**NYT** **:** What do you think about the changes in medical practices that have taken place over the last seventy years? Or changes in people's attitudes to sickness?

**CPT ROGERS:** It's kind of stating the obvious but...everything's changed a _lot_. Right now medicine's not high on my list of things to catch up on - I'm lucky enough that It isn't vital to my everyday life anymore - but I know there are treatments, good ones, for things that used to be incurable.

Or effective prevention: vaccination programs are just, they're an amazing thing for this country, for the world. There are diseases that my ma thought I'd die of when I was a child that _don't exist in America_ anymore. That's just amazing. And it seems like medical knowledge is really widespread now, too. Everyone knows something.

It's a little shocking, though, the things we were wrong about. You know I used to smoke cigarettes to treat my asthma? There's a lot of things like that.

Attitudes to sickness...there's a kind of a weird dichotomy going on. People notice stuff that we'd shrug off, and get it treated, or they live long enough to develop multiple chronic conditions. Everyone sees a doctor plenty of times in their life, everyone takes medicine at some point. But because sickness is better treated, and everything, there's less sick people around, and less people living with the aftereffects of disease and injury. You don't see people walking around with smallpox scars, or crippled because they broke a leg and never got it set properly. So everyone engages with the health industry, but sickness itself is invisible. You get sick, you take time off, get treated, get better, come back to work. I feel like that would be isolating, if you had a chronic illness or a disability or something. Because most people, when they get sick now, they get completely better. Staying sick is rare now.

**NYT:** What do you think of anti-vaccers?

**CPT ROGERS** : I don't think I know the term...

**NYT:** Parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids because they think it causes autism, or it contains harmful substances, or the disease isn't worth vaccinating against.

**CPT ROGERS** : Isn't worth - ma'am, maybe there are harmful vaccines out there, but it looks like so far they have done an _immense_ amount of good, and...I'm sorry, I don't know the science well enough to comment on the legitimacy of their arguments, but...really? People really...Look, something that can get rid of _polio_ is worth a heck of a lot of risk, as far as I'm concerned.

 

** Mr Stark **

**NYT:** Mr Stark, your wealth is paying for the Avengers' facilities and many of their functions as a team. Some say you are the unofficial second-in-command. Do your financial contributions create conflicts over command and team policy? Do you see yourself as the leader of the team, or as entitled to control its actions, because you pay the piper?

**MR STARK:** No. Even if I wasn't Iron Man, I'd be contributing to the Avengers' funding, and even if I weren't funding them, I'd still be Iron Man. I'm entitled to a say in what we do because I'm on the team, same as the rest of us, and my arguments with Steve have nothing to do with money and everything to do with him being an old fuddy-duddy.

 

**NYT:** It's been reported that you invited Dr Banner to stay in Stark Tower, and we see that he's here with you now. Isn't that kind of like keeping an atomic bomb in your garage? What precautions are you taking in case of an incident?

**MR STARK:** Considering I've been a weapons engineer most of my life, I'm not sure where you were aiming with that analogy. Nothing nuclear, but I've kept some pretty explosive things in my workshop.

I'm safer with the team living here - the _whole_ team - than I've been since college.

**NYT:** What do you mean by that?

**MR STARK:** Look, my typical week about ten years ago involved pushing myself to make a dozen different innovations in things that killed people really, really effectively. I usually built and tested prototypes in my workshop, and I was drunk, hung-over, or sleep deprived at least half the time I was doing that. These days, the only weapons development I do is for the team and the suit, which limits the risks to small explosions, non-lethal electrocution, and various kinds of burns. Bruce often works in my labs, and is stringent about safety protocols, so I'm much more careful when I test things. Captain Safety over here fusses when I take unnecessary risks, and between those two and the rest of the team I'm usually not hung-over, malnourished, or excessively sleep deprived when I work.

As for the risk of an “incident”...Bruce has excellent control - the last time he transformed involuntarily he was about to die, and the time before that he was under a magical influence, and both of those were _before_ the Hulk started working with the team. The team is capable of containing the Hulk if necessary: we have developed effective tranquilisers for him, which Hawkeye has never had to use, by the way, and we have a room on Bruce's floor which we believe will keep the Hulk contained should he be aggressive. Which I don't expect will actually be a problem: he works well with the team, and has never severely injured any of us. Last time he was in the Tower, during the invasion, he used my floor to beat the hell out of Loki, and left everything else alone.

So considering that the last three months of living with Bruce have led to a net _decrease_ in property destruction…I'm not fussed.

 

**NYT:** Some years ago you publicly announced that you are Iron Man. Looking back, do you ever regret that, or wish you'd kept it a secret?

**MR STARK:** When have I ever been known to keep something a secret? I'm not exactly Clark Kent; people pay attention. Sooner or later someone would have made a connection, or I would have had to suit up in public. Telling the press gave me the freedom to be Iron Man whenever I needed to. Pepper would have preferred if I'd given her some warning, but...where's the fun in that?

**NYT:** _[To the rest of the team.]_ What's it like having to work with a loose cannon like Tony Stark? Will you be requiring him to get help for his alcoholism to remain a member of the team?

**MR STARK:** Oh, come on, really? I am _not_ the only difficult team-mate here!

**THOR:** I do not understand. The Man of Iron is a fine warrior, and as many warriors do, he enjoys good mead, and other drinks. Is that unusual here?

**HAWKEYE:** Plenty of soldiers like alcohol, Thor, which Ms Davidson knows very well. But, uh...

**DR BANNER:** Being drunk impairs your judgement, so we prefer it if people, especially people responsible for other people's lives, stay sober when they're working. Tony...historically, hasn't.

**CPT ROGERS:** Which is a concern. But so far, Stark hasn't shown up drunk on duty, so no, managing his alcohol intake is not currently a condition of his place on this team.

**MR STARK:** I managed to run Stark Industries for a decade, drinking more than I do now, and so far I haven't heard complaints about my work since I started the Iron Man gig. Why would it be an issue now?

**BLACK WIDOW:** Since Iron Man…I assume you are excluding the time when you destroyed your own house?

**HAWKEYE:** As for the personality thing...we're all a bit nuts, and we all drive each _other_ nuts. It works out.

** Hawkeye **

**NYT:** Hawkeye,it's obvious what qualifies most of the Avengers to be on the team. What do you bring that they wouldn't have without you?

**HAWKEYE:** I never miss, I have more than a decade's experience as a sniper, I have a long-standing partnership with Black Widow countering large-scale terrorist organisations, and I use unique, custom weaponry that allows me to do far more than an ordinary sniper ever could. Put it this way: of the five of us, _I'm_ the one we rely on to take down the Hulk if we have to.

**NYT:** You and Ms. Romanov are the two team members without superhuman powers (natural or artificial). Is there any particular relationship between you? Any common background?

**HAWKEYE:** We've been working together for years. So yeah, some common background. As I said, we're partners.

**NYT:** Work partners, or...

**HAWKEYE:** Work partners and friends.

 

**NYT:** Why do you use an archaic weapon like the bow? Don't its deficiencies in range and wounding capacity handicap you against opponents with rifles or energy beams?

**HAWKEYE:** This again? Do you have any idea how many times I've been asked that question? You know, depending on the bow I use, I can make a shot a mile away. The record for a sniper shot with a rifle is a mile and a half. And these days, I'm usually closer to the battle than that.

As for wounding capacity...arrows can be just as deadly as bullets, even more so. Bullets cause a lot of internal damage, there's the hydrostatic shock thing, people bleed out. Buck-shot's pretty bad. Arrows are piercing weapons. And there are different arrowheads. Even with standard arrows, you've got broad-heads, bodkins, barbed heads. There are arrowheads designed to break apart when they hit the target, like some bullets do. And then I've got my trick arrows. That's where a lot of the advantage of the bow is, for me. You can do things with an arrowhead that you can't with something that's going to be propelled by a miniature explosion. So I've got explosive arrowheads, incendiaries, acid...I'm not really worried about wounding capacity. And then I've got other stuff, stuff that helps me deal with the sort of contingencies we face. I have net arrowheads, for when containment is the priority, and tranqs, and a grappling arrow for when I'm moving around high places.

The main reason why bows went out of style is that they require actual _skill_ to be deadly. Any idiot can kill someone with a gun. That's half the problem with guns. But I'm not any idiot. I've been working with a bow for almost twenty years now. I did my ten thousand hours while I was still in my teens. I have a _very_ accurate grasp of what it takes to hit what I want, and I don't shoot unless I know I can hit what I'm aiming at. It's pretty rare that I think I can't. You may call bows archaic, but so's a knife. To extend the analogy, with the quiver I carry, my bows are basically a swiss army knife, crossed with a Bowie.

That's not to say I don't use guns. I'm just as accurate with a rifle as I am with a bow. If I need to be inconspicuous, anonymous; if I've got an injured arm or limited room, I'll use a gun. But my bow's better.

 

**NYT:** It has been stated by a number of anonymous sources that just prior to the Invasion you were actually working with the war-criminal Loki and were in fact directly responsible for a number of deaths. Is this true?

**HAWKEYE:** I'm afraid the details of Loki's actions are classified, Ms Davidson. What I can tell you is that at no point did I willingly aid him.

**NYT:** Unwillingly, then?

**CPT ROGERS:** As Hawkeye said, ma'am, the details of the invasion are classified. Furthermore, you agreed to respect the information we are unable to disclose when we agreed to the interview. Next question, please.

 

**NYT:** Alright. You've been observed talking with the Hulk, and fighting alongside him. What's your perspective on him? He seems rather like a force of nature; how do you relate to him as a person?

**HAWKEYE:** Really? I guess I talk to him sometimes, but I usually just say hi unless I need him to do something. A friendly word never cost anything, you know?

What's my perspective on him? Well...it sucks for Bruce that he exists, but it's working out pretty well for the rest of us. I mean, he keeps fighting our battles, and it's not like we ever offered him anything for doing so. He just shows up, smashes what we tell him to, and goes away again. So...I'm fairly sure he's not particularly interested in hurting us? I don't know, some days he scares the shit out of me. But so does Tony - that man's drunk inventing is _terrifying_. And I've seen a lot of battlefields. Hulk's pretty simple; I'd rather him than a politician with a nuke. 

As for the force of nature thing...it's not a bad description. Better than “monster”. _Thor's_ a force of nature, pretty literally, and he's no monster. And the Hulk...he does have that elemental, huge amount of energy channelled into a single purpose, directed but not planned, all that. I don't know that we do relate to him as a person. Mostly we fight around him.

****

** Dr Banner **

**NYT:** Dr Banner, there has been a lot of speculation that prior to your accident you were trying to re-create the Super Soldier Program that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Is it true? Were you trying to make yourself a Super Soldier like the Captain?

**DR BANNER:** There's, uh, things from that program that I can't...can't talk about. It wasn't - the stated aims of the project were not to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum. And...me getting dosed with the serum we did create was...mostly a lab accident. So, no, I wasn't trying to make myself into, well, into Steve. And clearly what we got wasn't, well, super-soldiers.

**NYT:** What’s the status of your own career as a scientist? Have you been able to do meaningful work since your accident?

**DR BANNER:** While I was on the run, what little research I could do was focused on...controlling and, uh, eliminating the other guy. Since I joined the team, Tony's been very generous with lab space and resources, and I've been able to catch up with everything I missed. I haven't, uh, published anything, and I don't think anyone's going to offer me tenure, but I've been collaborating with Tony on some of his projects, and it's been...really good to get into the swing of things again.

**CPT ROGERS:** Bruce's expertise in...enhanced individuals has been really helpful for the team. Thor and I don't respond to, well, anything, the way most doctors are used to, so Bruce has been helping make sure we're looked after effectively when things go wrong.

**HAWKEYE:** He's also on Mad Science detail. None of that's ever going to get published, but he and Tony literally save the day with science on a semi-regular basis.

**DR BANNER:** It's not...anything like the work I was doing at Culver. But it offers me the same kind of intellectual challenges that I was looking for when I got into science in the first place. At this point in my life, I'm not going to complain.

 

**NYT:** I've asked some of the other team members about their relationship with the Hulk. What about yours? Do you remember your actions as the Hulk, and experience him as yourself in a different mental state? As part of you? Or as another person, and if so, how do you and he get along?

**DR BANNER:** The other guy is _not_ me. I have no involvement in and no memory of the times when I am transformed. And in answer to your last question...we don't.

**NYT:** Do you worry about him becoming a threat to your teammates?

**DR BANNER:** I am...always aware of the danger. It's, well, it's part of my responsibility as the other guy's...as the one who decides where the other guy is, to be aware of the risks.

**NYT:** Is there any possibility of interviewing—the Other Guy? Would he be willing to answer questions? Would you be willing to let him?

**DR BANNER:** _No._ Just... _no_.

**CPT ROGERS:** Considering your earlier questions to the team, did you really expect to get other answer? I think that's enough questions for Dr Banner.

 

** Black Widow **

**NYT:** Black Widow, you're the only female member of a six-person team. Do you ever feel awkward? Do the Avengers seem like a boys' club to you?

**BLACK WIDOW:** In the sense that they are like little boys?

Ms Davidson, I have been in disproportionately male cohorts for much of my career. I am too accustomed to it to feel awkward. I would appreciate having more women on or working with the team, but I’m not surprised that there aren’t any.

**NYT:** It seems as if super-heroism in general is something mostly men do. Why do you think there aren't more women? Especially in the case of super-powered women - do a lot fewer women acquire special abilities for some reason, or do women who have them take up other pursuits than fighting supervillains and alien armies?

**BLACK WIDOW:** Firstly, I object to your concept of “super-heroism”. What I do, what Hawkeye does? That is all skill, and training. What Stark does? That is genius, applied to the purposes of combat. The Avengers is 50% non-powered. The people we work with, who make what we do possible, are almost all non-powered.

With that foundation, then, it's necessary to consider the reasons powered and non-powered people dedicate themselves to actions considered heroic, or “super-heroic”. The next step in a combat-focused career; a response to trauma; making up for the past; a sense of obligation to do good where it is possible to do good; working towards protective or destructive goals by whatever means are available.

So why are fewer women doing this? There is strong social pressure for women to be non-aggressive. Women join military forces less, join agencies less, and in those organisations, are respected less, so few are promoted to the “superhero” level. Fewer women respond to trauma with aggression, because that is not a socially acceptable response. When attempting to do good, women will more commonly direct their attentions to creating social change. Even powered women frequently direct their attentions to non-combat uses. They are not alone in this: Charles Xavier, for example, almost completely ignores the combative potential of his powers, and choosing instead to focus on rehabilitating and teaching isolated and traumatised children, which is generally understood to be very beneficial for society overall. I have been a weapon for a very long time...but few, I think, would want to be.

Are fewer women powered? Perhaps. It is difficult to say. In the mutant community, the gender imbalance is negligible. Among the deliberately (or accidentally) enhanced...there is a bias towards men because such programs are often military, which is biased towards men, and because the developers are more often men, because of the gender imbalance in the sciences. Certainly the villains we encounter are not exclusively male.

**NYT:** It's obvious what qualifies most of the Avengers to be on the team. What do you bring that they wouldn't have without you?

**BLACK WIDOW:** Experience. I have more combat experience than anyone in this room, barring Thor. Furthermore, I have decades of familiarity with the work 'alphabet agencies' do, and the Avengers work more closely with such agencies than we do with the military. Professionalism. I'll grant you Steve has decent company manners, but the rest of this lot?

** Thor **

**NYT:** Asgardians are remembered in our myths as gods. Was that simply a misunderstanding by the early Norsemen of powerful and technologically advanced beings, or should you actually be considered as gods in some sense?

**THOR:** My lady Jane once told me of a Midgardian saying: “sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. I have had many lively discussions with her, and with my battle companion Stark, on this matter, and we have reached no satisfactory conclusion.

Your question, too, I believe is unresolvable. A man's faith is his own, and it is not my place or anyone else's to tell him if it be true or false. Thus, if men of old called me and my kin gods, believed us to be such, worshipped us as such, then to them we were. To others, we are not.

Perhaps you should ask the Man of Iron - I am certain I have heard him called a 'sex god'. Maybe he has insight on the matter.

 

**NYT:** Mythologically you're said to be married to a goddess named Sif. Do you actually have a wife back in Asgard?

**THOR:** I do not. Sif is my shield-sister, and a beloved friend, and at times it has been...convenient to allow people their assumptions about us. But we are not wed, nor will we ever be: we would not suit each other. And I would seek no wife in Asgard while I courted here.

 

**NYT:** You and your companions have now visited a number of restaurants in New York and elsewhere. What do you think of Earth's food? Have you discovered any new favorite foods among those you've tried?

**THOR:** Of all the Nine Realms, Midgard is the most diverse within its bounds: there are many cultures, many languages here, many nations, where Asgard has only one. Midgardian food is correspondingly diverse and varied: here in New York, I can purchase as much variety of food as I might find in Asgard, Alfheim, and Vanaheim combined. It is a great joy to have such variety, although I admit the range of choice can be bewildering. I could not easily choose a favourite food, but I must profess that the sweetness of Pop-tarts is something I return to again and again. They are so easy and quick to prepare! And yet so cheap that even a poor student may enjoy them.

 

**NYT:** After the Battle of New York, you took your brother back to Asgard. Has he been tried there for his actions on earth, or will he be? Do you think that the people or nations of earth have any right to try him for actions committed here, in Germany and the United States, rather than leaving him to Asgardian justice?

**THOR:** I cannot speak to the customs of Midgardian law, but the one who sits on Hliðskjálf sees all, rules all, and judges all. My father does not choose to interfere on Midgard besides my presence here, but as ruler of Asgard, he is ruler and guardian of all the Nine Realms. Loki has been tried for his misdeeds, and he has been sentenced to a long and harsh imprisonment. It will be lifetimes, for your people, before he is free.

 

 

 

**NYT:** _[To the whole team.]_ Do you have anything else you want to say?

**CPT ROGERS:** I guess I’d like to say that…we get too much credit. We fight the battles, but we depend on so many other people to make sure that anything we do is actually helping, and they get forgotten.

**BLACK WIDOW** : The agency that employed Hawkeye and I before the team, they still help the Avengers with information, back-up, weapons development, medical care, transport…we’re an effective unit because we have good people managing the logistics.

**CPT ROGERS:** Stark Industries does a lot for us as well. To a certain extent, that’s just Tony, but he’s _able_ to help us with funding and weapons and accommodation at least partially because of the company. And if Ms Potts really didn’t want us in the Tower…let’s just say it wouldn’t be an easy fight to keep us there. SI gives us a lot of legal and PR advice, too. We’re a new kind of organisation, so it can be hard to figure out the rules.

**MR STARK:** There are two people, without whom I wouldn’t be Iron Man, and neither of them wear a super-suit. I’m never going to say no to media coverage, but Steve’s right: we’re not the only ones who should get credit.

**THOR:** I have been much impressed by the work that is done to reconstruct our battlefields. More so, when I discovered that the labourers did so without reward. Without us, further lives and livelihoods might be destroyed, but _we_ cannot rebuild them.

**DR BANNER:** You know, I, uh, did a lot of medical volunteering overseas, after my accident. So I have a lot of respect for the paramedics that show up after a battle. And…you should know, we, well, we hear about everyone that gets hurt.

**CPT ROGERS:** It’s honestly the worst part of a battle, the casualty list afterwards.

**DR BANNER:** So, uh, I guess I want to say to those people and the families of those people…I’m sorry we couldn’t do more.

[The rest of the team nod and murmur in agreement.]

**HAWKEYE:** Yeah. I…we know how it is. There was a man who brought us together, made us the team we are, and he died in the Battle of New York. I still…I still find myself wondering if we’re…the team he wanted, I guess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think?
> 
> This has been in the wings for about three months now, and it's been a really fun project for me. I've gotten to explore the characterisation more deeply, a new genre of writing, and think about how the Avengers would present themselves to the outside world. I'd like to do something like this again someday, though I have no idea how I'd do it.
> 
> I've kept the work in progress up as a second chapter, so that those who are curious can see how this project worked.
> 
> Your feedback is always a delight to receive, so let me know what you think.


	2. The Work in Progress

Hi everyone,

So, this a bit of an experiment in semi-crowd-sourced writing. I've been writing It's Not Easy for a while now, and I've got a pretty decent population of readers, which is absolutely fantastic for me. And I figured, since you guys are great, and I really enjoyed writing the Christmas one-shot I did a month ago, that I'd try writing another one, but this time, I want your help.

In about seven weeks, I'll have been writing It's Not Easy for six months. I'd like to write a story for that anniversary, seeing as the main fic _definitely_ won't be finished by then. I didn't want to write something set during or after the main fic, so I was trying to come up with something I could set before it starts, and I settled on the idea of an interview. It's going to be an article, not a TV interview, because Natasha and Clint are avoiding public footage as much as possible, and it's going to involve the entire team.

Now, I _could_ come up with questions for it myself. But this story is for you guys, too - the readers who've stuck with me these last six months. So here is your opportunity to ask the Avengers (the way I write them) your questions. You can ask an individual, or the whole team. You can ask a specific question, or give me a topic for them to talk about. Keep in mind that the interview takes place at around the same time It's Not Easy starts, but if you have questions about events in that story, you can ask them here as well, and I'll answer them in the comments.

I don't know if this is going to work. But I'd really like to try it.

seekeronthepath

 

 

Update (18th February):

At this point, I've received sixteen (extremely thought-provoking questions), and I've drafted answers to twelve of them, adding up to about 3000 words. At this point, though, I'm basically writing the scene from the interviewer's perspective, rather than the article itself. I'd still love to receive more questions - not just things you think an interviewer ought to ask, but also just whatever you're curious about.

This has been a really interesting exercise in perspective, so far. For example, William H. Stoddard's questions about Thor's divinity and the relationship between the Hulk and the super-soldier project both have been answered in the main story (in chapters 13 and 17, respectively). But the true answers to those questions are too private for Thor or Bruce to share in a public interview. So what would they say?

Thank you to LadyErin and William H. Stoddard for submitting their questions, and I look forward to seeing what the rest of you come up with.

seekeronthepath 

 

 

Questions so far:

Steve

  * Of all the Avengers, you're the only one with a military background—or at least a modern military background; I understand that Thor is a prince and a warrior. How do you view your teammates as a military force? What kind of asset does each of them provide in combat? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * You come to 21st century America with a unique perspective: You skipped over decades of history. What things about out current politics strike you as improvements on your own time? What things strike you as having gotten worse? Do you have any sense of the United States having taken the wrong steps at particular points along the way? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * Even though you were born in 1918, because of your big "time out," all of your teammates are older than you are biologically and in personal experience. How does that affect your relationships with them? - _William H. Stoddard_



 

Bruce

  * There has been a lot of speculation that prior to your accident you were trying to re-create the Super Soldier Program that turned Steve Rogers into Captain America. Is it true? Were you trying to make yourself a Super Soldier like the Captain? -- _LadyErin_
  * I've asked some of the other team members about their relationship with the Hulk. What about yours? Do you remember your actions as the Hulk, and experience him as yourself in a different mental state? As part of you? Or as another person, and if so, how do you and he get along? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * Do you worry about his becoming a threat to your teammates? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * What's the status of your own career as a scientist? Have you been able to do meaningful work since your accident? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * Is there any possibility of interviewing—the Other Guy? Would he be willing to answer questions? Would you be willing to let him? - _William H. Stoddard_



Clint

  * It has been stated by a number of anonymous sources that just prior to the Invasion you were actually working with the war-criminal Loki and were in fact directly responsible for a number of deaths. Is this true? -- _LadyErin_
  * Why do you use an archaic weapon like the bow? Don't its deficiencies in range and wounding capacity handicap you against opponents with rifles or energy beams? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * It's obvious what qualifies most of the Avengers to be on the team. What do you bring that they wouldn't have without you? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * You and Ms. Romanov are the two team members without superhuman powers (natural or artificial). Is there any particular relationship between you? Any common background? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * You've been observed talking with the Hulk, and fighting alongside him. What's your perspective on him? He seems rather like a force of nature; do you relate to him as a person? - _William H. Stoddard_



 

Natasha

  *  You're the only woman member of a six-person team. Do you ever feel awkward? Do the Avengers seem like a boys' club to you? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * It seems as if superheroism in general is something mostly men do. Why do you think there aren't more women? Especially in the case of superpowered women - do a lot fewer women acquire special abilities for some reason, or do women who have them take up other pursuits than fighting supervillains and alien armies? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * It's obvious what qualifies most of the Avengers to be on the team. What do you bring that they wouldn't have without you? - _William H. Stoddard_



 

Tony

  * It's been reported that you invited Dr. Banner to stay in Stark Tower, and we see that he's here with you now. Isn't that kind of like keeping an atomic bomb in your garage? What precautions are you taking in case of an incident? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * Your wealth is paying for the Avengers' facilities and many of their functions as a team. Does that create conflicts over command and team policy? Do you see yourself as the leader of the team, or as entitled to control its actions, because you pay the piper? - _William H. Stoddard_
  * Some years ago you publicly announced that you are Iron Man. Looking back, do you ever regret that, or wish you'd kept it a secret? - _William H. Stoddard_



 

Thor

  * After the Battle of New York, you took your brother back to Asgard. Has he been tried there for his actions on earth, or will he be? Do you think that the people or nations of earth have any right to try him for actions committed here, in Germany and the United States, rather than leaving him to Asgardian justice?
  * Asgardians are remembered in our myths as gods. Was that simply a misunderstanding by the early Norsemen of powerful and technologically advanced beings, or should you actually be considered as gods in some sense?
  * Mythologically you're said to be married to a goddess named Sif. Do you actually have a wife back in Asgard?
  * You and your companions have now visited a number of restaurants in New York and elsewhere. What do you think of Earth's food? Have you discovered any new favorite foods among those you've tried?



 

Team

  * What's it like having to work with a loose cannon like Tony Stark? Will you be requiring him to get help for his alcoholism to remain a member of the team? -- __LadyErin__




End file.
